To: Americo Burgos III who wrote (8427 ) 1/25/1999 9:37:00 PM From: CarlY Read Replies (2) | Respond to of 40688
Let's stop ALL personal attacks here if we want to benefit from the thread at all! We all know that we come to SI to listen to others and to share all important information from different people, good or bad. If one needs only to hear the good things, he/she can simply repeat to himself/herself:"this is a great stock and it's gonna double 100 time tomorrow!" And I think you will laugh. The reason you are reading this post at this very moment is because you are seeking other's opinion and try to form your own judgment, taking all good and bad news. So let's leave out the personal attacks and get on the business;) Taking another look at the PNLK's PR release, we need some techy's help here. Keep the following questions in mind: 1. What are the benefits to each side(AT&T and PNLK) from this "partnership" agreement? 2. Does these benefits serve each side long term strategies or just satisfies short term goal? 3. What competitive advantages does this partnership create for each side over their competitors? 4. Is this partnership proprietary or it can be easily copied to other AT&T customers? 5. How sustainable is this agreement? AT&T will provide the following items as part of its agreement with ProNetLink: 1. Hosting: Hosting the ProNetLink website at AT&T's New York Global Data Center with (unlimited bandwidth on demand. - Does everyone get such treatment?) 2. AT&T SecureBuy: E-Commerce enabling the ProNetLink website, with a secure end to end package, backed by AT&T guarantees.(Sounds to me this is a generic version) 3. AT&T Interactive Answers: Integrating live voice services on the web (uhmmm, this is actually very intersting! It does fit into what AT&T is strategically heading to, ie. to come a global integrated network service provider) to enable ProNetLink users to communicate live over the web. 4. Promotional Incentives: Providing ProNetLink members free 200 minute AT&T prepaid phonecard ($60 value), for long distance calls, for their first AT&T SecureBuy transaction with ProNetLink over $25 when they register with the SecureBuy service. (Again, generic!) 5. Additional services which will be coming soon are: a) AT&T Direct Toll Free Service - International toll free services available from over 150 countries, to enable global marketing and customer service. b) Language Line Service - Live language translation services in over 100 languages to facilitate international business phone conversations. c) AT&T Direct Service, International Traveler Update Program and International Business Traveler Dialing Guide - Never be out of contact even when you are in the far corners of the globe, with AT&Ts direct US access codes available in over 130 countries. ''This new agreement with AT&T will aggressively propel ProNetLink into its version 3.0. By partnering with the leader in communications our members will now have maximum bandwidth access to the Internet as well as a number of other special AT&T programs that will benefit their businesses. We look forward to working with AT&T to expand their participation in ProNetLink and global commerce,'' said David Walker, COO of ProNetLink It seems that we need to answer some more questions. -carl